My recipes and inspiration, from my hometown of Chicago to my favorite places to visit. I love to cook and eat in season, so most of my recipes and meals are affordable. I've combined a love of good food and some serious couponing skills to make meals that are restaurant worthy while spending less.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

I was looking for a crinkle recipe that didn't use chocolate, but when I didn't have any luck and there was one recipe that I loved, but wanted to make it more husband-friendly (he's not a big chocolate fan), I modified one I found in a magazine and with the tweaks and changes I made, it actually tastes a little like eggnog. Even though hubby isn't a fan of eggnog, these cookies are keepers in my book.

In a large mixing bowl, combine coffee creamer, eggs, sugar, extract, melted butter and mix on high until well combined. Add salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and mix over medium speed, gradually adding flour until well combined. Stir in hazelnuts.

Chill dough 2 to 24 hours.

Heat oven to 350.Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine powdered sugar and nutmeg - set aside.

Roll dough into 1" balls, toss to coat in powdered sugar and place on cookie sheet 1" apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and tops are dry. Cool on cookie sheet for one minute before removing to cool on wire racks. Roll again in powdered sugar if desired and dust with nutmeg on top for garnish.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

With all the apples in season and the gorgeous crop of baking apple available for between $.39 to $.69 a pound in my area, I've been busy putting up my apple supply for the winter and one of my favorite things is homemade apple pie filling. I've been making this alongside my mother for a good 10 years now and even though we don't have the old apple tree in the backyard, we still found a way to keep our costs down on this treat.

I'm a little bit of a rebel when it comes to make pie filling - I don't believe in only using baking-variety apples. Instead, I go by what looks good at the store, what's most affordable, and I prefer using slightly soft apples of many varieties to give the filling a more complex taste. To me, when an apple is no longer crisp enough for snacking, it is perfect for baking and cooking. From homemade applesauce to apple dumplings to apple pie filling to my cinnamon apples - I've got plenty of uses for apples that are past their snacking prime.

This year, the varieties that we used were: Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, McIntosh, JonaMac, Empire, Rome, Honeycrisp, Gala, Red Delicious, and Pink Lady. Last year we scored deals on other varieties, so each year, we just use what's available.

This isn't so much of a recipe as it is an instruction guide. For apple pie filling, the variations are endless - and can be as affordable as you choose to make it. For me, I may look for the best price on apples, but I get several different cinnamons to build up the flavor. I used cinnamon from: Saigon, India, Mexico, China, and Madagascar. If you're using a less potent cinnamon, I would suggest doubling the amount called for in this recipe.

Peel and core apples, slice and toss with seasoned sugar and flour mixture.Scoop apples into quart sized freezer bags and freeze. The pie filling will last up to 12 months if properly sealed and frozen.

A few variations have been made to the traditional sour cream coffee cake recipe I've been experimenting with - most notably, this one doesn't use sour cream, but I've swapped in low fat or nonfat yogurt to make this recipe a little healthier - you could use light sour cream if you preferred, but I was working with what was on hand at the moment.

Also, I've swapped out part of the butter or margarine called for with unsweetened applesauce, this lends a richness to the coffeecake and I've decreased a little of the usual amounts of sugar, to keep this treat from being overly sweet. This comes together fast and looks much more difficult to make than it actually is.

The final substitution I made was using chopped hazelnuts in place of walnuts, but I did that simply because hazelnuts have been ridiculously cheap - under $2 a pound - and walnuts are a little bit beyond my budget at this moment.

Copyright stuff

All the recipes listed here are my originals, except where otherwise stated. Feel free to use my recipes, but if please do not reproduce them without giving credit to their author, namely me.If any recipes here are not my originals, I have credited their author, publication house, magazine, etc.Thank you and happy eating.

About Me

Hi, I'm Annie - a 30-something, Chicagoland almost-foodie that loves spending less, but I'm big on flavor.
I started this blog to catalog my recipes and make it easier to share my favorite eats and treats.
I try to make recipes that are easily affordable, but make no mistake, I want full flavor on a tight budget.